title: Developmental changes in alpha-tocopherol, especially during infantile period.
abstract: Developmental changes in expression of alpha-TTP after birth were investigated using rats with respect to plasma changes of tocopherols. The expression of alpha-TTP in the neonatal rat liver, which was very low immediately after birth, increased steadily during the two weeks of life before weanling and reached the adult level at 4 weeks. During the suckling period, the plasma ratio of alpha-tocopherol to gamma-tocopherol linearly increased, because plasma alpha-tocopherol was low immediately after birth, increased rapidly during the period, while gamma-tocopherol remained unchanged. The increase in the ratio seemed to correlate with the developmental expression of alpha-TTP in the liver during this period. The ratio also reached the adult level after 4 weeks. The expression of alpha-TTP was investigated using primary cultured rat hepatocytes. The expression of alpha-TTP was found to be extremely low after 20 h of culture. The decrease in alpha-TTP expression was exacerbated by adding epidermal growth factor to the culture medium and was inhibited by adding dexamethasone. These observations suggest that expression of alpha-TTP may be affected by the state of hepatic differentiation. The Western and Northern blot analysis of alpha-TTP in vitamin E deficient and enriched rats were compared to control rats. The decrease of mRNA of alpha-TTP observed in alpha-Toc-enriched rat liver and the increase of mRNA observed in the vitamin E deficient rat liver indicate the synthesis of alpha-TTP, although alpha-TTP itself was not altered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Osaka Medical College, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamai
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000378:metabolism*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; C017763:alpha-tocopherol transfer protein; D014810:Vitamin E